East African Rift System, also called Afro-Arabian Rift Valley, one of the most extensive rifts on Earth’s surface, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia southward through eastern Africa to Mozambique. The system is some 4,000 miles (6,400 km) long and averages 30–40 miles (48–64 km) wide.

Lake Kivu, located in the western branch of the East African Rift System.

The major active aulacogen (that is, the failed spur of a triple junction found in a tectonic …

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The plateausadjacent to the rift generally slope upward toward the valley and provide an average drop of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet (600 to 900 m) to the valley floor. In some places, such as the Gikuyu and Mau escarpments, the drop averages more than 9,000 feet (2,700 metres). The rift has been forming for some 30 million years (as Africa and the Arabian Peninsula separated) and has been accompanied by extensive volcanism along parts of its length, producing such massifs as Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya.

The longest rift on Earth’s surface, the Great Rift Valley is a long, deep depression with steep, wall-like cliffs, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia southward through Africa to Mozambique. The rift has a total distance of approximately 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) and an average width of 30 to 40 miles (50 to 65 kilometers). It is a continental extension of the midoceanic ridge system, a generally submerged mountain range encircling the globe. The valley is least eroded, and therefore most conspicuous, in eastern Africa where it is also known as the East African Rift Valley.

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